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Raven Jordan
Mrs. Crist
English 4
October 1, 2015
Puppy Mills
Many people want to find a fun lovable fur ball of joy but the only problem is they want a
specific breed that is not always identifiable in rescues, but but many people do not realize that
many of the breeds are actually supplied by puppy mills. In fact, "puppy mills supply nearly
100% of the puppies sold in pet stores, directly to consumers online, and through newspaper ads
(Animal Rescue Corps). In other words they want a purebred puppy and you can not always be
sure of a purebred in a rescue. People that are looking for purebred puppies just look at the
puppies and do not really pay attention to the horrible conditions they are raised in. Necessities
that may be helpful when picking out a puppy for the family may include; asking where the
puppies live, if they have the parents on site, and if they are up to date on shots needed. Puppy
mills came into existence when there was a widespread failure of traditional crops and farmers
needed an alternative way to generate revenue.
Puppy mills started after Demanded dog breeds skyrocketed and traditional crops failed
after World War II. The United States Department of Agriculture advised farmers to start
these large-scaled commercial dog breeding operations. After agreeing to start raising puppies as
an alternative the farmers got right to adjusting the farms for incoming dogs and puppies. The
extensive dog breeding operations placed profit over the health of the puppies. For example,
many of the puppies were put in filthy cages that had no bottom (The Global Guide to Animal
Protection 155).

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Puppy mills started in the midwestern states, and then proceeded to expand outward to
surrounding states. The midwestern states started to sell to the pet store market and it then went
to newspapers. Pet stores would want to have purebred puppies on site, so they would buy the
puppies from the puppy mills. The farmers sold to the pet store market for a while, but needed
more money than they were getting. Farmers then began putting ads in the local newspapers for
the purebred puppies. In Protecting All Animals it claims that the selling of these puppies
became known as a second crop for most farmers (Unti 100).
The Global Guide to Animal Protection states that the owners of the puppy mills
constantly bred dogs to have puppies on hand all year long(155). People that run puppy mills
are constantly breeding the female dogs and will continue to breed the female dogs till they can
no longer have puppies or till they die. The dogs and puppies were kept in dark, tiny, and
overcrowded warehouses; not to mention indescribably filthy and some with little to no sunlight.
On page 155 of The Global Guide to Animal Protection it summarizes how The dogs and some
of the puppies lived their entire life in refurbished chicken coops and rabbit hutches in dark
warehouses. These wire cages often injured the dogs and puppies paws.
If you are buying a purebred puppy or any puppy for that matter, you need to ask to see
the Sire and the Dam. If they do not allow you to see the Sire and Dam there is a 99% chance
that they run a puppy mill. Which means most likely if they do not let you see the parents of the
puppy, then with no doubt they just bred the dogs for profit. People do not really pay attention to
what conditions the puppies are raised in as long as they get their purebred puppy, but they need
to. Without paying attention to the surroundings of the dog you could be getting a sick puppy.
Knowing puppy mills came into existence when there was a widespread failure of traditional

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crops and farmers needed an alternative way to generate revenue should stop you from buying
from a puppy mill.

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Work Cited
Berek, Daniel L., MAT. "Puppy Mills." Salem Press Encyclopedia (2013): Research Starters.
Web. 14 Sept. 2015.
Puppy Mills | Animal Rescue Corps. Animal Rescue Corps. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
The Global Guide to Animal Protection. Urbana, IL: U of Illinois, 2013. Print.
Unti, Bernard Oreste. Protecting All Animals: A Fifty-year History of the Humane Society of
the United States. Washington, D.C.: Humane Society, 2004. Print.